Things you should keep in mind

Driver compatibility: It's the first thing you should consider before buying. Most of the usb to ethernet cable listed below doesn't need any kind of driver installation on Windows 8 or Windows 10. But Windows 7 may require manual driver installation, specially when not updated.

Recent versions of Linux, Android and Chrome OS also doesn't need any driver installation. As default inbuilt USB to Ethernet driver has a wide range of hardware support.

There should be no need of driver installation on macOS 10.9 and above. Though there's few report regarding manual driver installation to get the adapter working properly. If needed, you can download the latest driver from their respective manufacturer's site.

Speed: Even there's no USB 3 port on your device, like a Raspberry Pi SBC, I'll recommend a USB 3.0 to Gigabit adapter.

A Gigabit adapter on USB 2.0 port could reach 250-300 MBps speed easily, about 3 times more speed compared to a 100M ethernet adapter.

Also there's no ridiculous price difference between a Gigabit and 100M adapter.

Port type: If there's both USB type A and type C port on your device, the you should go with a type C adapter.

May be there's a type C port on your phone, so you can use the adapter both on your laptop and smartphone. Another advantage is they're reversible, hence easier to connect.

You many feel the glossy plastic body somewhat disappointing. It's prone to scratches, if rubbed against hard surface. But I've to say the adapter performs reasonably well, both as a ethernet adaptor and USB hub.

If you're thinking about to connect a wireless keyboard, bluetooth adapter or 2.4 Ghz USB WiFi dongle, then it might disappoint you. The reason discussed at the end.

Nothing fancy here, it got the typical build quality, but the Amazon Basics adapter is with a AX88179 usb to etherent converter chip, like the Plugable USB3-E1000. It costs less than half of the Plugable adapter, at least for me.

So it's worth looking if you're looking for a cheaper alternative from a trusted brand.

This adapter works without any problem on Windows 8, Windows 10, Linux and macOS. However it's explicitly mentioned that it's not for Android, Windows RT and pfSense.

As the ASIX AX88179 is used on this adapter, it should work with Nintendo Switch, at least theoretically.

USB Ethernet adapter for Mac

When it's about expansion port selection, Mac system are always a bit different. Previously there was Ethernet ports on Macbooks, but on newer models they're totally extinct.

Macbooks from few years back had USB 3.0 type A ports and Thunderbolt 2 ports. So you can use any of the above type A adapter without any problem. But there's very few thunderbolt ethernet adapter, all of them are made/approved by apple, check one below.

But latest Macbooks from 2017 has only and only Thunderbolt 3 ports, there's 4 of them on the 15" model.

Thankfully thunderbolt 3 uses the USB type C port, and they are pin compatible. So any macOS compatible usb C ethernet adapter should be usable too.

As other adapters, there's no driver installation required on macOS operating system,it's just plug and play. This adapter reaches around 90-100 MB/s transfer speed easily, quite close to gigabit speed.

Though it's not a USB adapter, but it's worth including this one in this list. The main advantage of this adapter is there's no driver installation is required at all.

According to reviews, it performs quite well, capable of data transferring at near 1000Mbps speed.

Best USB C Ethernet adapters

USB type C is now almost mainstream, present in almost every thin and light laptops, ultrabooks and high end smartphones.

There's few advantage of type C usb ethernet cable compared to type A. As example, it's quite future proof, compatibility with Thunderbolt 3 and ability to connect the same adapter on a wide range of hardware. The type C devices are reversible, hence easier to attach and detach.

Here's few shortlisted USB type C adapters, should be compatible with any type C port and thunderbolt 3 ports.

Another quality product from Anker, with 3 extra USB 3.0 type A ports to attach other devices like a USB flash drive, card reader etc. etc.

Such adapter+hub combos are quite useful when there's only one USB port are available, like in a smartphone or tablet.

The silver colored aluminium body is quite well built. The attaching cable is also good enough, can easily provide up to 1.8 Amps to power hungry devices, however pass through charging is not supported.

Model

AK-A8303041

Build Quality

Good, Aluminium body

Converter chip

RTL8153

OS support

All major Linux distros, macOS 10.9 and above, Windows 8 and above, Android

This USB to ethernet adapter seems to work quite well with macOS, however few users are facing problem, so Anker published a patch for mac OS. To download the patch and drivers for Windows, follow this link. The driver's are on the downloads section.

This USB LAN adapter from Dell features a good build quality and a flat connecting cable.

It's highlighted as it supports PXE booting, which is a partially true and a marketing tactic I believe. Any adapter with proper UEFI UNDI driver can do that. Realtek provides those drivers from their download page.

Unlike all other's above, it's fast ethernet device, speed limited to 100Mbps. This adapter also said to be supported by Raspberry Pi Zero when using the Raspbian OS, which doesn't have any ethernet port.

Comparability with Android varies, however if you're using customs ROMs like Linage OS or various AOSP ports, then it's most probabbly supported.

Android driver support: A micro USB to Ethernet adapter can be connected to any android device with USB OTG functionality, if there's a proper driver. Most of the time the default cdc_ether driver is built-in inside the kernel, which has a wide range of converter chip support, including the RTL8153 and RTL8152.

Note - Interference with 2.4 GHz ISM band

As I've said earlier here, the USB 3 adapters with hub functionality may cause with interference with any wireless device connected to it operating in the 2.4 GHz ISM band.

It's because USB 3 signals works within a broad frequency range, and the 2.4 GHz band falls under the it's spectrum. So, there could be significant amount of RF radiation, specially when the connecting wires not properly shielded and long.

So, if you're planning to connect a USB bluetooth adapter, wireless keyboard-mouse receivers or a USB WiFi dongle, then they might not work as expected.

As of my personal experience, WiFi connection dropped few times while using the Amazon Basics adapter. But there's no drop if the signal is strong enough.

Then connected a Logitech Unifying wireless keyboard receiver to the TP-Link TL-UE330 adapter. No lags while the keyboard is close, but starts lagging and dropping when it's about 4-5 feet away.

And it starts lagging even more when I connect a USB 3 external hard drive.

Conclusion

WiFi speed has been improved quite a lot, however it's nowhere near a wired connection in real world. Ethernet is still the backbone of networking, either it's over copper or fiber.

So, sometimes for a better data transfer speed over network, ethernet is still much better choice. For optimal performance, pick one of those cables from this top ethernet cable list.

Hopefully this list is meaningful, expecting it to be useful, though somewhat long.

Absolutely USB Ethernet adapters are bottleneck to the wired network.
However sometimes and USB to ethernet is the only option to connect the system to a wired network, specially with modern thin and light laptops/ ultrabooks.

i have mitv 4a pro. it already comes with LAN, but it have 10/100 port, i want to change to 10/100/1000 port , it supports only usb 2.0 can i buy the first one tp link or any other suggestions please tell to me

Do any of these work for tvs? I have a new tcl Roku TV without a lan port. My house is wired for internet. I'm looking to have the TV wired with internet instead of wifi.To many phones and tablets are using up my wifi.